Cast members of the production Songs of a Prairie Girl Photograph by: Sp Richard Marjan, StarPhoenix Arts & Life Editor

If you were planning to highlight Prairie culture in front of a national audience, chances are you'd look for someone associated with the Prairies who became famous enough to be interesting.

And chances are the short list would have one name at the top: Joni Mitchell.

In other words, Songs of a Prairie Girl couldn't be more perfect for Prairie Scene, the National Arts Centre's spotlight on Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, that runs April 26 to May 8.

But the show pre-dated Prairie Scene by a long shot. It started as a University of Saskatchewan Greystone Theatre mainstage production created by drama professor Jim Guedo which premiered in 2005. He'd noticed a plethora of women in the drama department with musical ability. And Mitchell just happened to be releasing her retrospective album Songs of a Prairie Girl in 2005, in time for Saskatchewan's centennial.

Guedo contacted Mitchell's people and not only got approval to do the show but was able to accommodate Mitchell's request to add a few songs that had Saskatoon and Saskatchewan resonance for her.

He went on to do six to eight months of research, reading everything in print and online that he could find in which Mitchell speaks about how the Prairies affected her artistry. From the start, the show was to be something other than a musical revue.

"My job is to find bridges that sort of weaved a path through it that gave some insight into her art, the province, how the Prairies shaped her.

"The music always gave it the structure and then it was how to weave it all into a theatrical tapestry."

The original production featured Vesti Hanson and a large cast of students, some 10 in all. The late Angie Tysseland led the band.

Returning for the re-mount are Hanson and Jacklyn Green. They're joined by Alyssa Billingsly, Leora Joy Godden, Christine MacInnis and Amy Matysio.

It's a professional production this time, but with the same vision.

"It's not a campfire singalong. It has to still be theatrical. That's why we have six actors playing a different aspect of her character. There's no one flat-out trying to impersonate her because it's impossible," says Guedo.

There was some talk about Mitchell coming to see the first production, but she couldn't make it. She's still welcome, of course.

"We'd let her smoke in the theatre if she did." After a short tune-up run in Saskatoon, the show heads for Ottawa for a run May 4-7 in the National Arts Centre Studio.

"It's a great opportunity, it's a great honour. And there are people from across the country who will come to see it. Who knows, it may end up having a different life after this," says Guedo.